Image copyrightSki Weltcup Semmering / FacebookImage caption
The Semmering resort will hold two races - but its advertising has left athletes cold

A poster promoting Ski World Cup women's races has come under an avalanche of criticism for its choice of a naked woman as the main feature.

The offending painting shows a nude image of a female skier jumping over some animal heads while a moon with eyes looks between the woman's legs.

Austria's Semmering resort is using the painting to promote two days of races for the world cup this month.

Many on social media, however, objected to the portrayal of female athletes.

The painting was commissioned from artist Christian Ludwig Attersee, who has painted similar promotional material for the races in previous years. But this year's rendition has been criticised more widely.

It comes after a year in which multiple allegations emerged of sexual assault and even rape among Austria's female skiers, going back decades. The accusations, reported in Austrian and German media and involving at least one well-known coach, caused an uproar earlier in the year.

Former Austrian Olympic skier Nicola Werdenigg, whose revelation that she was raped at age 16 prompted an investigation, labelled the Semmering poster "sexist".

Image copyrightSki Weltcup Semmering / FacebookImage caption
The painting in question appears on posters, banners, and brochures as the main cover image

Writing about it on social media, she complained that the races at Semmering had been advertised with Attersee's work for years - and that the pose is less than athletic, with crossed skis making a fall certain.

"Finally, the completely uncalled for sexist subject, that also depicts a beginner's fall, is being discussed more publicly," she tweeted.

"A fallen woman, lying naked in the snow, is just not suitable as an advertisement for a World Cup race, even if the artist interprets this pose differently," she added.

"What professional skiers are: Extremely brave. Concentrated. Trained. Combative, with bite and the will to win," she tweeted, along with an image of the painting, and the comment "how skiers will be presented in 2018 on a poster officially commissioned by the province of Lower Austria."